🐾 Pip at the beach
As we’re a sea-loving family, it wasn’t long before we introduced Pip to the beauties of the sea and sand. In fact, we headed straight for the beach on our first outing with him, post-lockdown.
It’s quite a different experience going to the beach now with a dog. For one, we need to take turns sitting with Pip as he gets quite stressed when he sees us entering the water. If you think about it, from his perspective, he sees our bodies disappearing before his very eyes. He watches every move we make and sometimes barks at us, as if to warn us of danger. One of us always stays with him, of course, and sometimes we just go for a walk instead so to avoid him fretting. There are so many interesting smells and things to dig for on the beach if you’re a curious puppy, which he certainly is.
He is very entertaining when he takes a notion to start digging. He digs deep into the sand, as if his life depended on it! At the moment, we are permitted to take him to the beach but when the summer season begins (if it begins) there will be restrictions on when and where we can take him. In the meantime, we are making the most of the wide, more or less empty beaches. Here are some of our forays to the sea with Pip.
Here are some of our sea adventures with Pip the podengo pup.
7th May: Praia de Alvor
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A new beach for us; this one sits at the estuary of the river Alvor, west of Portimão. There is a network of fantastic boardwalks over the wetlands, protecting wildlife while allowing access to the beach.
Pip’s nature as a hunting hound is evident here!
18th May: Praia da Alvor
Back at Alvor again:
19th May: Taking an evening swim at Praia de Nossa Senhora da Rocha, with Pip on full alert as he watches his family disappear into the sea! After our swim, we took a look at the tiny church of Nossa Senhora da Rocha. As mentioned previously, in a pre-pandemic post, the church is thought to date from the 16th century. It survived the devastation of the earthquake in 1755 although the surrounding walls of the fortress were destroyed. That small fort is thought to have been constructed during the 8th century. It’s sited on a promontory under which a hole mentioned previously has been tunneled through to Praia Nova next door. Two beautiful beaches and absolutely stunning scenery.
20th May: Praia Nova: Back to the beach next door the next day:
It was at Praia Nova that we took Pip for his first seaswim. He wasn’t entirely convinced, but he managed well!
24th May: Praia de Albandeira
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Two coves for the price of one! We also took a bit of a clamber up over the rocks to see the amazing sea stack at the next cove up. Incredible sights.
Bored yet?! Coz there’s more!
25th May: back at Praia Nova and today it was quite choppy in the sea. Definitely not a day for a pup to go in! Saul here is doing his best Walter White impression.
28th May: Praia de Benagil
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Another famous beach which we got to see at its most picturesque, yet eerily empty. It felt bizarre to be seeing these tourist hotspots which would usually be packed at the height of the season, but we had them more or less to ourselves.
29th May: Praia do Paraíso (near Carvoeiro)
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The light was amazing at this cove. We didn’t swim here as the tide was in and it was a bit rough out from the protection of the cove. No filters in these pics; it was just a spectacular evening in a spectacular setting.
29th May (ctd.): Praia do Carvoeiro
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Because a swim hadn’t looked like a good idea at Praia do Paraíso, we nipped over to nearby Carvoeiro. Once again, this is a world-renowned beach and it had barely a sinner on it! Surreal. This cove became a favourite of ours for an evening dip.
